Machine for grooving railway-sleepers.



- A. PANKL.

MACHINE FOR GBOOVING RAILWAY SLEEPBRS.

APPLIGATION FILED D110. 3, 1912.

Patented Feb. 3, 1914.

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UNITED STATES PATENT QFETQEE.

ALOIS PANKL, or VIENNA, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, ASSIGNOR TO THE FIRM on KOIVI- MANDITGESELLSGHAFT enrno nnrenns, or VIENNA, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

MACHINE FOR GROOVING RAILWAY-SLEEPERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. '3, 1914.

Application filed December 3, 1912. Serial N 0. 734,678

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALors PANKL, a subject of the Emperor of-Austria-Hungary, residing at Vienna, Empire of Austria-Hungary, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Grooving Railway-Sleepers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such a will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

In machines for grooving railway sleepers, that is to say, for cutting into the upper surface of the sleeper or tie transverse grooves designed to receive the tie plat-e, for instance such as described in the Patent No. 999,623, the ends of the sleeper are yieldingly pressed against fixed guide rails located near the rotary cutters and are then pushed past the latter whereby such grooves of the desired width are cut in the predetermined position and whatever may be the thickness of the blank or its transverse sectional shape. But if the upper surface of the raw sleeper is not plane owing to its being improperly hewed or owing to warping during drying or for any other reason, then the groove may become too deep or too shallow, the sleeper is either too much weakened by the groove or the groove is too shallow for its purpose.

This invention has for its object to overcome this difficulty. 7

In the annexed drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation partly in section and Fig. 2 a side elevation partly in section of a machine embodying this invention.

1 is the frame of the machine in which tables 2 are vertically guided and are positively lowered into a predetermined lowermost position by means of a cam 3 on a shaft 4 driven in any convenient manner, such cam acting on the tables through the medium of a suitable link and lever gear 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, the tables are raised yieldingly for instance by weights 1O acting upon one of the levers of the link and lever gear.

11 are the rotary cutters for cutting the groove designed to receive the tie plates; these cutters are suitably journaled in the frame of the machine.

12 is the sleeper blank, and 13 are arms attached to feed chains 13*, such arms engaging the blanks and pushing them bepast. the latter. The cutter heads are driven in any suitable manner.

The parts just described are not new by themselves being disclosed in the Patent No. 999,623 above referred to.

WVhile in the machines for the purpose in question as heretofore constructed each rotary cutter had located near its outer end one fixed guide rail only, against which the blank was pressed on being raised by the tables, according to the present invention two guide rails 14, 15 are provided near each rotary cutter, one near each end thereof, such guide rails being parallel to the tables 2. These guide rails are guided in a vertical direction in the frame of the machine and are connected by links 16, 17 with the ends of a two armed lever 18 pivoted at 19 in the frame of the machine.

When in the rotation of the shaft 4 the part of the cams 3 having the minimum radius comes opposite the lever 5 the tables 2 are raised by the weights 10 until the blank 12 comes into contact with the guide rails 14, 15. If now the upper surface of the blank is not parallel to the axis of the cutter head, the blank will first come against one of the guide rails, say 14 and raise the same thereby turning the lever 18 and lowering the other guide rail 15 until the latter too bears against the blank and the lever 18 is parallel to the upper surface of the blank. It is only at this moment that the upward movement of the blank is arrested. The groove is then cut in the usual manner, the blank being pushed between the tables 2 and the cutters past the latter in the usual way. The lever 18 being parallel to the upper surface of the blank and makingin general an angle with the axis of the rotary cutters, the bottom of the groove will make the same angle with the upper surface of the blank, but the distance between the fulcrum 19 of the lever 18 and the bottom of the groove will be constant, that is to say, inclependent of the said angle. Therefore the depth of the groove measured from the upper surface of the blank at a point below the fulcrum 19 is, likewise constant and independent of the angle between the axis of the cutter and the upper surface of the blank, so that when the fulcrum 19 is above the center of the cutter, the depth of the groove in the center of its width is always the same whatever may be the curvature of the upper surface of the blank due to warping or other causes.

By means of the arrangement above described irregular or warped blanks may be worked quite as well as regular ones without any of the inconveniences above referred to. For more safely supporting the guide rails they are preferably suspended from a pair of levers 18 as shown in Fig. 2. F or enabling the average depth of the cut to be regulated at will it is preferred to make the fulcrum l9 adjustable in the frame. This may be done for instance by securing the pivot pins of the lever to a nut 20 on a screw 21 revolubly mounted in the frame, but prevented from moving longitudinally. By turning the screw by means of a worm E22 and a worm wheel 23 the nut and the lever are raised or lowered. It is preferred to cause springs 2 to act on both ends of the lever 18 which tend to return the lever into the horizontal position. Of course the tables 2 might be located above the cutters in which case they would be positively raised and yieldingly lowered.

Having thus described my inventiomwhat I claim is In a machine for grooving railway sleepers, the combination With a frame, of a rotary cutter journaled in the frame, means having guided movement in the frame for engaging and moving the blank toward the cutter, guide rails against Which the blank is pressed, the guide rails being located one near each end of the cutter and having vertical guided movement in the frame, a lever fulcrumed midway between its ends in the frame, and links connecting the ends of the lever with the said guide rails, whereby the guide rails have simultaneous movement in opposite directions.

In testimony whereof, I aiiix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

ALOIS PANKLL Vitnesses ARTHUR GAssMANN, AUGUST FUGGER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

